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Memory Keys 



A ''Table-top" Treatise on Unlocking the 
Mind's Treasure-vaults of Memory- 



Written By 

Lloyd Kenyon Jones 



Published By 

THE WILLIAM T. STEAD 
MEMORIAL CENTER 

Chicago, Illinois 



The Price of this "Table-top" Volume is 
$1.00, Postpaid in the United States 



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Copyright, 1919, by 

Lloyd Kenyon Jones 



©CLA525667 

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TEST YOUR MEMORY 



What did you do between the hours of 10 a. m. and 
noon, May 6, 1905? 

Do you remember? 

If you do remember what you did at that time it is 
because something exceptional impressed itself upon 
you. 

That period was once NOW just as much as THIS 
MOMENT is — and yet, a week hence, perhaps you 
could not give even an approximate description of what 
transpires RIGHT NOW! 

A speeding ship leaves a wake, but the wake fades 
away in a thin line of spume — and there is no mark left 
to record the fact that a ship passed that way. 

But there is a record of every thought, every experi- 
ence, left somewhere in your brain. 

Why should it not be as easy to recall EVERY- 
THING you have experienced, as it is to tell what you 
did twenty minutes ago? 

EVERY NORMAL PERSON retains some kind of 
active memory. It is different in different persons. 
It is different for different reasons. Some adults can 



4 MEMORY KEYS 

recall incidents reaching back to infancy — while to 
others life before their twelfth year is a blank — as 
though they had been projected into life at twelve, and 
never knew earlier childhood. 

TEST your memory. What does it reveal? 

If you are a person of mature years, can you tell, 
without pausing to think and find mile-posts in your 
mind, just what you did in 1888 — or in August, 1889? 
Just WHAT do you remember most easily? 

You remember the incidents that CAUSED THE 
GREATEST IMPRESSION. That is not startling— 
but it is important. You will learn its importance be- 
fore you have completed this treatise. 

You remember incidents that HAD A PUNCH 
BACK OF THEM! 

They seem no more distant than yesterday — though 
they may date back forty or more years. 

You recall DISAGREEABLE incidents without 
effort — because their impress was greatest. Likely, you 
can r_emember all of your enemies — but perhaps you 
forget many of your more agreeable acquaintances. 

As time passes you substitute. You change facts. 
You say that you remember cities — but cities change. 
You visit a city to which you have not journeyed for 
twenty or more years. Its geography and its typog- 
raphy seem to have altered. You move away from a 
childhood home — stay away a quarter-century, and you 
return to visit your old friends. You are there a week 



TEST YOUR MEMORY 5 

or two. But afterwards, likely you have only a picture 
of the town you knew once; not a picture of the town 
as it is today! 

There are strange freaks in memory processes — and 
equally strange conceits. Just as accurate history has 
been written rarely, so are there few cases of accurate 
memory. We think about that which we have passed 
through— and "make over" our experiences with our 
contemplation of them. 

Others have shared our experiences with us. We 
hear them talk about the times that were. Just as 
twenty different persons will have twenty different ver- 
sions of an accident which they have witnessed, so will 
persons differ in their opinions of experiences. 

Our minds play tricks on us. We are everlastingly 
altering our memories — except certain special kinds of 
memories, which we shall get to later. 

Here are a few samples of FAULTY MEMORY : 

Smith's family lived in the town of Blank for two 
generations. In the same village, as neighbors for these 
two generations, lived the Brown family. John Smith 
and Jim Brown were playmates and schoolmates. They 
graduated from high school at the same time and 
attended college together. It is reasonable to believe 
that John Smith knew Jim Brown. 

Years later, Jim Brown became a detective — and a 
capable one at that. He succeeded in "a big case," and 
was offered employment by an agency in the largest 



6 MEMORY KEYS 

city in the state. His fame grew — and finally he be- 
came attached to the Government service, and made a 
reputation worth while. 

John Smith was proud to say that he knew Jim 
Brown, and when Jim was at the height of his career, 
John called on him in Washington. There he met a 
man from the "back home" country, who lived in a city 
a hundred miles from the old Smith and Brown home 
town. 

This man's name was Robinson. In talking with 
Robinson, Brown mentioned that he was a boyhood 
chum of Jim Brown. 

"Why," Robinson observed, "I don't see how that 
could be. Jim Brown's folks and my folks were neigh- 
bors for thirty years, and Jim and I were in the same 
class in high school!" 

To Smith, Robinson was a liar — and Robinson held 
the same opinion of Smith. 

What was wrong? Smith's memory was accurate, 
and Robinson's memory was faulty. Smith had a "fast- 
color" memory, and Robinson had a "fade-out" 
memory. 

But, strange as these following statements may seem, 
they are true : 

With his active, dependable memory, Smith was a 
failure. With his blow-hole memory, Robinson was a 
success. Smith inherited a fortune and lost it. Robin- 
son started poor and succeeded in a big way. 



TEST YOUR MEMORY 7 

Here is another instance: 

Cummings prided himself on his sense of direction. 
He claimed to map every place he had visited — and map 
it perfectly in his memory. 

For twenty years he had not visited Chicago. But, 
he argued, while there were new buildings, he could 
recall the streets perfectly. Nevertheless, even though 
many persons corrected him, he still insisted after his 
visit, that Madison street should be north of Washing- 
ton street—- and at one time had been. No one can iron 
this error out of his mind. 

How many persons, who were billed as "star wit- 
nesses," failed miserably when shrewd lawyers put 
them to the vital tests of memory? We may say that 
the witnesses were confused and likely they were. But, 
brought down to dates and facts, they found that they 
remembered little. Their testimony had no value. 

Now, let us digress a moment. 

You have heard about "sky vision"? It is the vision 
that comes to aviators of experience. They can see 
things that the novice could not distinguish were those 
objects pointed out to him. They learn to interpret 
shadows and shapes. They know woodland stretches 
from cloud shadows — and trains from factories, and 
roads from streams. They can see birds on the wing 
that the novice could not see — and they can detect other 
planes that would make no impression on the sight of 
those without air experience. 



8 MEMORY KEYS 

There is the sight of the huntsman that mystifies the 
amateur. The old hunter can see birds and wild ani- 
mals that are only part of the forest scenery to the 
novice. 

There is vision for figures — for colors — for many dif- 
ferent classes of SIGHT. And just as there is a differ- 
ence in vision, so are there differences in hearing, in 
tasting, in feeling and smelling. 

If the sense-perceptions of persons differ, is it unrea- 
sonable that their memories should differ? 

One person can learn languages easily; another not 
at all. 

Here is a case of a number of boys who were reared 
in "the North country," where vision was confined to 
views of the woods. Their only playground was the 
forest. They should have been great botanists. Sev- 
eral of them became lumber experts. One, at least, 
could see no difference between most of the varieties of 
trees. To him, they were "just trees." 

This man, in talking to one of his former boyhood 
friends later in life, said: "Bill, how can you tell what 
kind of wood you are looking at when it is stained and 
polished?" 

"I don't know," Bill replied honestly. "I can tell; 
that's all. I have heard men say that it is the grain, but 
this is not true. Some woods have the SAME grain; 
many the same texture so far as the eye can see. Still, 



TEST YOUR MEMORY 9 

there are differences. I know — but HOW I know, I 
cannot explain." 

Why does a typist remember the position of the keys 
on the typewriting machine? How does the musician 
remember the keys of the piano? Those instances rep- 
resent a certain kind of memory. They belong to the 
MIND — and whatever belongs to the mind must create 
MEMORY RECORDS somehow— to some extent. 

"Memory Training" has become a sort of hobby — and 
a healthy one! If the method of training the memory 
is not too cumbersome, it must help. If it js too cum- 
bersome, it injures more than helps. 

MEMORY IS JUST AS MUCH A NATURAL 
FUNCTION AS THINKING. It is PART OF OUR- 
SELVES. 

Your heart functionates. So long as conditions are 
right, the pump-action of your heart is as logical as 
breathing — and calls for no greater conscious effort on 
your part. Why should MEMORY be a taxation on 
the mind? 

If you are obliged to go through severe mental gym- 
nastics in order to remember experiences (and what- 
ever we do or think is an experience), that would indi- 
cate that your mind did not function properly at the 
time you went through those experiences. 

MEMORY TRAINING is another way of saying 
NORMAL THINKING. If you think normally, you 
remember normally. 



10 MEMORY KEYS 

If, in order to remember the name of a man who 
chances to be known as Mr. Rivers, you must think 
about the ocean, rain, Niagara Falls, Minnehaha, bath- 
tubs and other things denoting H2O, you are paying 
a fearfully heavy price to do what should be as easy 
to do as telling your own name — provided there is any 
reason for remembering Mr. Rivers. 

The man who stutters, says that, if he can whistle 
first, he can talk properly. And so we find many "whis- 
tling" courses of memory training that are needless 
burdens. 



LESSON I 



IS THERE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS? 



Says the pseudo-psychologist, "We have two minds" 
much as he would say "A cow has two stomachs." The 
statement regarding the cow may be correct. It might 
have eight stomachs, so far as that is concerned. It 
needs them. But who ever lived who needed two 
minds? 

If there are two minds, how can there be INDIVID- 
UALITY? 

The subconsciousist supports his dual-mind theory 
by citing the numerous instances of REFLEXES. 

Also, he refers to hypnotism as a court of last resort 
in proving that we "have two minds." 

You have ONE MIND, because YOU and YOUR 
MIND are not two things. You can not separate 
THOUGHT from yourself — and you can not divide 
your thought. 

You have REFLEXES — and thereby you keep in 

< 11 



12 MEMORY KEYS 

The theory of subconsciousness was established only 
after considerable effort — and now that it is established, 
it is like any other habit. It persists in repeating itself. 

To say, coldly and with finality, that subconscious- 
ness is but a fanciful name for the reflexes, which have 
been recognized these many years by the medical fra- 
ternity, might not go unchallenged. Surely, so bold 
a statement in these strenuous "psychological" days, 
needs — demands — a submission of evidence. 

In a measure, this subconscious idea is a sad and irk- 
some subject. It is almost disagreeable — but subcon- 
sciousness has been associated so long with memory 
culture, it is a subject that cannot be dismissed with a 
word. Let us dissect it leisurely : 

No matter what your mental or physical state may 
be — irrespective of how injury or fever may distort your 
judgment — no matter who you may be temporarily in 
your own opinion, YOU ARE ALWAYS YOU ! That 
SENSE OF ENTITY never leaves you. In your wild- 
est dreams, YOU ARE YOU. In your delirium, you 
remain yourself, without respect to what nonsense you 
may babble. 

The hypnotist may tell his somnambulistic subject 
that he is George Washington, and the subject, in his 
dream-state, may believe it— but WHAT HE FEELS 
IS HIS OWN SENSE OF BEING! 

You say that the pianist develops subconscious mem- 
ory — and if you mean that the reflexes respond auto- 



IS THERE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS? 13 

matically through long training, you are correct. You 
say that the subconsciousness may become dominant, 
and usurp the throne of reason — and you point to luna- 
tics as glowing examples of your theory. But perhaps 
you do not take into consideration the brain or nerve- 
lesion of the insane patient. 

You say that the subconsciousness holds a complete 
storehouse of memory, but you forget that the CON- 
VOLUTIONS on the cerebral hemispheres are but 
MEMORY STREETS, cut shallow or deep according 
to the experience that built them. 

You forget that the gray-matter of the brain repre- 
sents the cobblestones of MEMORY'S PAVEMENT 
— and that the subconsciousness is supposed to reside 
in the cerebellum, the madula and the nerve-ganglia, 
which are but INSTRUMENTS OF YOUR OWN 
VITAL BEING! 

The REFLEXES represent the machinery that is 
much more cunning than the air-brake or the electrical 
devices that illuminate signs and give them seeming 
motion— or the cinematograph that records and pro- 
jects "pictures of motion." 

The more you understand the NATURE OF 
THOUGHT, the more clearly you will discern that 
many functions of the mind that we have been told 
are subconscious, are only examples of the real nature 
of thought. 



14 MEMORY KEYS 

THOUGHT IS THE QUICKEST THING IN 
THE UNIVERSE. 

Electricity travels about 186,000 miles a second, but 
thought can outstrip electricity so easily, "the juice" 
appears to travel at a snail's pace in comparison. 

Perhaps you forget that your SENSE OF BEING 
is expressed through YOUR INHERENT ABILITY 
TO THINK — and that every sensation you ever experi- 
ence is but an expression of thought. 

The psychologist tells us that, on the one hand, sub- 
conscious cerebration can be dominated by suggestion 
— ruled completely ; and, on the other hand, it gives rise 
to our most ennobling thought. It is master and serf. 
Is that not a paradox? 

Viewed in one light, we see subconsciousness as 
animal instincts and in another light, we view subcon- 
sciousness as the soul itself. Your subconsciousness, 
therefore, is a SECRET YOU, bottled up, and 
uncorked only under certain conditions — wise as Sol- 
omon at one time, and a brother of the swine at other 
times ! 

But the YOU that goes through all the hopes and 
fears and aspirations of life, the YOU that you always 
thought you were, the psychologist typifies as only an 
artificiality. Do you believe it? Do you think that life 
is possible with such unreasonable madness? 

We need less of subconsciousness and more of CON- 
SCIOUSNESS! 



IS THERE SUBCONSCIOUSNESS? 15 

God gave you reflexes to carry on certain bodily func- 
tions without obvious mental effort. Through this 
reflex action, your muscles can be made to respond to 
certain memory of dexterity. But your fingers do not 
do the remembering. The muscles in them have become 
exercised for a certain purpose, and that makes it easier 
for your mind to direct them without the expenditure 
of much apparent effort. 

The reason for dexterity is NOT in your bodily 
structure, except as your bodily organs, including your 
brain, are but servants of YOURSELF— of your own 
durable entity. 

To worship the theory of subconsciousness, is— in 
time — to alibi your own shortcomings. Some persons 
like to have "another self," which is a sort of official 
goat, upon which they heap the indignities of their own 
bad tempers. 

Brain injuries — be they apparent or hidden — some- 
times short-circuit certain records of the brain, and 
give rise to aberrations that are called splendid exam- 
ples of subconsciousness. 

One thing is certain: As you strive to give yourself 
a better memory, you must accept the responsibility of 
YOURSELF. The more you cherish the subconscious 
theory, the more difficult your task will be. To set up 
the idea that you have a hidden YOU within yourself, 
is to shunt responsibility onto a sidetrack. If you seek 



16 MEMORY KEYS 

to escape responsibility, how can you develop your 
memory or any other phase of THOUGHT? 

Only as your learn to distinguish certain subtle and 
lightning-beating processes of thought, will you begin 
to see that what has been called subconsciousness is 
ordinary consciousness — and that back of your mo- 
ments of apparent mental torpidity, there is a cease- 
less, restless searching of the SELF for knowledge of 
some description. 



LESSON II 



THE QUICKEST OF ALL THINGS 



The wireless message is rapid — but thought is so 
much more speedy, there is no comparison. 

Thought seeps through the brain. The brain retards 
thought to some extent, and under many conditions. 
That is because thought performs certain physical work 
on the brain structure. 

The flash of lightning in the black clouds is electri- 
city, but you still can see its course. At least, the 
retinas of your eyes photograph a picture of that course 
and in feeding the sensation to your brain, that picture 
may be lengthened out somewhat. It was not too rapid 
for your retinas, nevertheless! 

The radio message, no longer depending on the air, 
but vibrating through that mysterious ethereal some- 
thing that is said to permeate all else, travels 186,000 
miles a second — which is very much faster than the 
electric bolt that we see during a thunderstorm. 

Thought sometimes manifests itself unimpeded by 

17 



18 MEMORY KEYS 

brain resistance. Usually, we recognize thought by its 
travel through the brain-mass. 

To illustrate: An IDEA flashes through your mind 
so rapidly it may take you hours to reduce to words 
the essence of the thought you experienced. The faster 
thought was thought — just the same! 

These very rapid thought-flashes may be going on 
continuously without our recognizing them — and when 
we catch one of them by the tail, we may be inclined to 
say, "Ah, ha, that wonderful little subconsciousness of 
mine is busy again!" 

If you just accept a theory because it "seems so logi- 
cal," and let it go at that, you will fight for your theory, 
because you find belief in it so comfortable. Should 
that satisfy you? 

Thought is just as much a function of YOUR LIFE 
PRINCIPLE as perfume is in a flower, or radiation is 
to heat. 

You are thinking all the time — whether you admit it 
or not — and because you are NEVER segregated from 
your own thought-processes, you find an analysis of 
them rather difficult. 

Which proves that WHEN WE THINK NAT- 
URALLY AND WITH INTEREST, there is nothing 
difficult about thought. When we grasp our thoughts 
and try to FORCE them along a certain channel, in the 
name of intellectuality, we feel that we are working! 



THE QUICKEST OF ALL THINGS 19 

And this may not seem to be related to memory, but 
we shall prove that it is. 

There are times when YOU HAVE TO THINK 
FAST. Sometimes you become confused and do not 
think coherently — but there are times when you are 
"all keyed up," and you arrive at decisions very speed- 
ily. You seem to think more in a minute than you 
would think ordinarily in an hour or a day. 

Men and women who have nearly drowned, have said 
that their past lives floated before them so rapidly and 
clearly, it seemed as though they had lived from the 
cradle to their hapless state in just a few minutes. 
Memory was awakened. And it was waked up by the 
PRESSING DEMAND of the situation. You may call 
it subconsciousness, but never forget that WE SENSE 
THINGS ONLY THROUGH CONSCIOUSNESS. 

If, in moments of stress, we can make our thoughts 
HURRY UP, that should be sufficient proof to any of 
us that THOUGHT IS SPEEDY BY NATURE. 

There are times when thought no longer seems to 
depend upon its slower course through the brain-sub- 
stance. It skips over the surface, or it unlocks closed 
doors rapidly. It does things that THOUGHT 
COULD NOT DO WERE THE NATURE OF 
THOUGHT OTHER THAN SWIFT! 

Even in our mentally lazy moments when we say that 
"we think about nothing," our thought is not idle. Per- 
haps in those moments it is speeding up in ways that 



20 MEMORY KEYS 

would astound us if we recognized that speed. Occa- 
sionally, we do recognize it, because in some of these 
"mentally absent" moments a vital idea will flash into 
our minds so quickly as to startle us. 

Philosophers have written many volumes of very dry 
and burdensome matter about the mind. Most minds 
would never recognize themselves after the pursuit of 
these heavy studies — -that attempt to divide the mind 
into many chambers — and give impressive Latin names 
to the different divisions. 

Put to the test of quick decision, how many students 
of the labored psychology pause to remember what 
Pro. So-and-thus said about judgment and memory and 
logic and many other things? 

Put to the test, all of the so-called faculties of the 
mind prove that THEY ARE ONE; they unite in 
YOUR OWN ENTITY. Truly, thought may classify 
itself the same as it classifies plants or minerals. But 
whether it be judgment or memory or sentiment or 
anything else, it is still THOUGHT — and its nature 
is swift and its flight the most rapid of all things. 

Just as the bee makes many trips to the clover field 
before he had filled one cell with honey, so may thought 
make many flights of inquiry before it has established 
one firm and dependable memory record. While 
thought is swift, it builds the structure of its experience 
slowly. 

Look out of your window. You see MANY things, 



THE QUICKEST OF ALL THINGS 21 

and each one is seen because YOUR THOUGHT 
HAD ABSORBED ITS REALITY. Do you retain a 
memory of the buds and leaves on the trees, of the grass 
blades, of the infinitude of color, of the cloud shapes? 
You SEE them and RECOGNIZE them; hence, they 
have had a place in your thought. But your thought 
has not utilized them — except in a general way, or for 
very special reasons if in a more particular way- — in 
the upbuilding of its MEMORY STRUCTURE. 

The saw spins around on its axis many times in cut- 
ting a board. The wood finisher rubs the panel many 
times before he secures the final high polish. Thought 
goes on many flights before it MANUFACTURES 
THE RAW MATERIALS OF ITS OBSERVA- 
TIONS INTO LEARNING. 

Thought must EXAMINE many things before it 
selects even one thing as essential to its records. And 
often thought has observed very cunningly and 
dropped the burden of its observation, only to claim it 
again if a REASON should ever arise for that recogni- 
tion. And this swiftness, restlessness of thought gives 
rise to some hidden memories that apparently fortify 
the subconsciousists in their fascinating theories ! 

Thought is on the ALERT ever to acquire knowledge 
that YOU need in your life and progress. You may 
LOCALIZE thought and thereby build up a memory- 
store of importance. If you refuse to direct your 
thought in useful channels, you keep on thinking just 



22 MEMORY KEYS 

the same, but only by sending your thoughts on count- 
less trips. Likely its cargo is light — and often unim- 
portant. But the CARRYING POWER of thought 
is sufficient to make it bear valuable burdens of experi- 
ence that will be stored up for future reference — like 
grain in a granary. 

The more fascinated you are with the subconscious 
theory, the more you encourage your thought to go on 
flitting and fruitless excusions. Why do it? 



/ 



LESSON III 



DIRECTING THOUGHT-TRAFFIC 



So far as your span of mortal life is concerned, we 
must think about your brain in saying anything rela- 
tive to your thought and memory. 

What happened before you were born and what will 
transpire after you die, are not parts of this discus- 
sion. Right now our chief concern with MEMORY 
deals with your mortal use of that memory. 

MEMORY IS A THOUGHT RECORD— and it has 
a place in the brain. 

The STREETS OF MEMORY have their being in 
your "gray-matter," which resides chiefly in your cere- 
bral hemispheres. It also resides in nerve-tissue. 

Years of speeding, flitting thoughts may leave few 
brain-records— and they will be shallow. 

You have streets in your brain— some boulevards, 
some lanes and a number of alleys. And you have 
street-territory that has never been opened to thought- 
traffic. 

You may not recall what happened between the hours 
of ten a. m. and noon, May 6, 1905 — but for all that, 
whatever you have been through — have EXPERI- 

23 



24 MEMORY KEYS 

ENCED — has left some impression on your brain-mass. 
A child's brain — soon after birth — is like a wax record 
with few indentations. The brain of a matured person 
is a warehouse rilled with records. 

You witness an accident. It SHOCKS you — fright- 
ens you. It causes a deep impression. The BLOW OF 
OBSERVATION has been severe. The memory-street 
that is cut to preserve this record is also very deep and 
wide. It is PAVED thoroughly with gray-matter. It 
is KEPT OPEN— because you think MANY TIMES 
about the accident you witnessed. Fifty years from 
now, memory of that frightful accident will be clear, 
because the memory-street that was made and paved, 
was very deep and very long. 

It is always easy to recall that incident, because your 
thought courses over that record like a phonograph 
needle traces the sound-vibration streets on the record's 
surface. 

But try to recall some triviality, and your thought- 
force feels its way over very faint records, and finds 
their REPRODUCTION most difficult. 

THE FORCE OF THE ORIGINAL THOUGHT 
EXPERIENCE causes recurring thought relative to 
that experience, and the result is a clear, deep, well- 
paved memory-street. We may add that it is well- 
lighted. The thought-force finds no difficulty in locat- 
ing and exploring that street. Its markings are all 
familiar, because thought has been over the ground 
many times before. 

Music, as you know without being told, is a memory- 
process. The sound you hear NOW has ceased to exist 
a thousandth part of a second hence — but the MEM- 



DIRECTING THOUGHT-TRAFFIC 25 

ORY STREET of the tune is cut easily in most minds. 
In "musically-inclined" minds, that street is cut very 
deep from the first. In others, many repetitions are 
needed to open that memory-thoroughfare and pave it. 

Motion has meaning to us only because we REMEM- 
BER the motions that have led up to the one we watch 
THIS MOMENT! 

The baby touches a hot stove — ONCE. The burn, 
the fright, the pain served to cut and pave a very sub- 
stantial memory-street for that little one. 

Let us not say that there are many kinds of memory. 
There is JUST ONE KIND, but memory may be 
stronger with one class of experience than it is with 
other classes of experience. 

It is very easy to remember DISAGREEABLE expe- 
riences, because they left stronger memory-records than 
the milder experiences. We never forget some death- 
bed scenes, quarrels with former friends, narrow es- 
capes and like RED LETTER impressions. And if it 
is so easy to remember one class of experiences, why 
can it not be made as easy to remember some other, and 
more agreeable, class of experiences? 

The mind reacts according to the weight and speed 
of the "blow" or impression, that strikes it. As that 
blow is heavy and fast, it leaves a deeper, stronger 
brain-record. Different persons feel the impact of dif- 
ferent blows of observation in varying degrees. To the 
musician, the air that only pleases the non-musical per- 
son, is tracing a perfect pattern in that musician's brain. 
It is a preserved record of "the words and music !" 

The stock company actor can memorize his part as 
easily as we could read the manuscript of the play. The 



26 MEMORY KEYS 

mechanic can take a piece of machinery to pieces, repair 
it and reassemble it without difficulty, because each 
fact relative to that machinery, its parts and their rela- 
tionships, strikes a sharp, quick blow on that mechan- 
ic's mind. It cuts a very definite, well-ordered memory- 
street, and paves that street. The physician remembers 
anatomy, materia medica, pathology and the other divi- 
sions of his profession, because HE IS INTERESTED 
in those things, and each experience is a sharp blow on 
his mind. It stimulates his thought-processes. 

We say, "William Jones can CONCENTRATE mar- 
velously. No wonder he learns so easily." What Wil- 
liam Jones does is nothing more than to FOCUS cer- 
tain experiences (such as study) on his mind. He 
makes his observation serve as a "burning glass," and 
thereby DRAWS TOGETHER all of the rays of light 
on that particular subject. If we are not interested in 
that which interests William Jones, we catch only part 
of those rays. The balance are scattered. We get but 
a fraction of the MIND BLOW that he feels. We react 
to that information stupidly. He reacts WITH LIVE 
INTEREST. William Jones cuts and paves his mem- 
ory-streets, while we drive over unbroken ground, leav- 
ing but faint wheel-marks on the surface. 

Why shouldn't Jones have a better memory than the 
balance of us? Why shouldn't it be easier to drive an 
automobile up Fifth avenue in New York, than over a 
v/ild prairie? 

No one has ever explained satisfactorily why the 

sounds of an orchestra record can travel up the needle 

phonograph without stubbing their toes on one 

another — and perhaps no one can explain why MEM- 



DIRECTING THOUGHT-TRAFFIC 27 

ORY OF MANY DIFFERENT THINGS will co-or- 
dinate, and fit in so beautifully and become knowledge. 
Beyond observing that this CO-ORDINATION of 
memory is a property of the mind, likely we need no 
deeper explanation. "It works," and it has always 
worked. That brings the peculiarity of memory-rec- 
ords within the scope of Natural Law, and we may 
observe the operations of natural law calmly and with 
profit, and still be unable to explain the law itself. 

Similarly, we know that the STRENGTH AND 
SPEED of the blow, or shock, or impact, of observation 
will cut these memory-streets, pave them and keep them 
open. We know that some physical change has 
occurred in the brain-structure. We know these things 
much as we know what electricity will do under certain 
conditions^— without advancing our knowledge as to 
the nature of electricity ! 



LESSON IV 



CHOOSE YOUR CLASS OF MEMORY 



You may spend a day in the business section of a 
large city, and ACTUALLY SEE one million different 
persons, without remembering one of them! And your 
thought, always active, always searching, examines 
many things without bringing back a RECORD of 
them. 

You cannot SEE a thing without THINKING about 
it. Your thought may be so swift, that a moment later 
you have no memory of what you have seen. You see — 
and hence think about — the grain of wood, the marks 
on plaster, the DETAILS of countless things. But you 
save only a small part of your observations. 

To believe that you can train your memory so that 
YOU WILL RETAIN EVERY EXPERIENCE, is 
expecting too much of any person's mind. 

There must be special reasons why you should 
develop SOME SPECIAL KIND OF MEMORY. 

We shall make no effort to name all of the classifi- 
cations. The underlying principle is all you need. We 
shall name a few of the more prominent: 

The clerk at the general delivery window of a post- 
28 



CHOOSE YOUR CLASS OF MEMORY 29 

office, and the detective, need MEMORY OF NAMES 
AND FACES. Therefore, their observation narrows 
down to this particular class of memory. They 
STUDY features, statures, mannerisms and names. 
They FOCUS the results of their observations into 
ANALYTICAL THOUGHT! They IMPRESS their 
brains with what they have observed. 

The unmusical person hears a whistle blow, and it 
is simply a whistle. The musician says, "Ah, that is in 
the key of G !" The unartistic person calls a color blue, 
but the artist sees a blending of several colors in that 
particular shade — and maybe reflections of other colors. 
The elocutionist reads a poem two or three times and 
memorizes it. The mechanician examines a piece of 
machinery and observes its construction and operation. 

JUST AS THERE IS SPECIALIZATION IN 
OCCUPATION, SO MUST THERE BE SPECIALI- 
ZATION IN MEMORY. Without the memory spe- 
cialization, there could be no avocational specialization. 

The author observes WORDS — and their peculiar- 
ities, their relationships to one another, their musical 
value. The proof-reader observes and therefore remem- 
bers spelling and punctuation. The housewife remem- 
bers recipes and methods. 

One person is proficient in writing and speaking ten 
languages, but all of us cannot be linguists. Another 
person knows the stars, much about eclipses and comets 
— but to most of us the heavens might change their 
design nightly without causing much comment on our 
part. The botanist has his peculiar memory, and the 
mineralogist has his particular type of memory. 

We knew of a man in the Colorado State School of 



30 MEMORY KEYS 

Mines who could take a specimen of ore from any part 
of the world, "heft" it, look at it, and tell accurately 
what it contained — and how much to the ton. We 
heard about another man employed in the stockyards 
at Kansas City who could feel the sides of a critter and 
estimate within a few pounds at the outside, what the 
animal would weigh. We have heard of other strange 
memory freaks — but wherever such a freak exists, be 
certain that there has been CONCENTRATED OB- 
SERVATION on that particular type of information. 

One time, in the days of the old museums, we saw a 
country boy who had a copy of Webster's Dictionary 
on a stand beside him. Any one could select any word 
from among the three hundred thousand or more words 
in that dictionary, and if he pronounced it correctly, the 
young man would spell it correctly — and then spell it 
backwards just as rapidly, and with equal fidelity. We 
asked him how he did it, and he said, "I don't know. 
Once, I read the dictionary through !" 

We have known ministers who could find any pas- 
sage in the Bible even though one were to suggest the 
theme without remembering the words. 

We are told that this is an age of specialization, and 
that statement is correct. People who become profi- 
cient in ONE thing, command the highest salaries — are 
the most noted in their line. If they had not specialized 
in one particular kind of memory, they would never 
have become specialists. SPECIALIZATION BE- 
GINS WITH THE FORMATION OF MEMORY 
RECORDS! 

It is not easy to remember things that do not seem 
to be suited to our interests. The "tea-taster" seems to 



CHOOSE YOUR CLASS OF MEMORY 31 

be peculiarly adapted to his calling. His memory cen- 
ters on TASTE. The musician's memory is concerned 
chiefly with HEARING. The blind person, who reads 
by the sense of touch, specializes on THE MEMORY 
OF FEELING. And while to each of us a certain sense 
is most important, also to each of us a LIKING for 
some special thing is paramount. We like soil analysis 
or metaphysics, or golf, or motor cars, or salesman- 
ship—or something. We are PREDISPOSED to that 
particular subject. Hence, it is EASY AND NAT- 
URAL TO CONCENTRATE upon that subject, and 
in proportion to our concentration, we succeed in memo- 
rizing. But we concentrate best on that which interests 
us most. 

To imagine that it is good memory exercise to memo- 
rize poetry, which we shall never use, is as sensible as 
believing that it is the proper thing to force a child 
to learn to play the violin when that child has no talent 
for the violin, and no liking for it. 

On the other hand, we find many persons with no 
acting talent who struggle to be actors. They do not 
succeed. Apparently, they have the predisposition to 
act — but they haven't. Predisposition is not always in 
line with aspirations. A person may be predisposed to 
a certain talent, and that talent "comes so easily," it is 
no longer alluring to that person. This perverseness 
in human nature makes people do much needless work. 
They seek to memorize that which their minds can 
never learn how to observe properly. 

If we set out to cultivate our memories along lines 
foreign to our "mental make-ups," we may succeed in a 
measure, but never to any marked degree. But if we 



32 MEMORY KEYS 

memorize along the lines best suited to our talents, then 
we may make progress — and as our OBSERVATION 
increases, our MEMORY RECORDS become deeper— 
and our SPECIALIZATION moves forward accord- 
ingly. 

Many an unfortunate, and equally misguided, person 
is seeking to cultivate his memory along lines foreign 
to his adaptability. That is the same as trying to ferti- 
lize soil to grow something that the NATURE of the 
soil cannot nourish. The fertilizer soon represents an 
outlay of money much greater than the value of the 
crop! 

If EVERY PERSON could become skilled in ALL 
lines this would be a sorry world. We should be in the 
position of the ten shipwrecked persons who found 
themselves on a barren desert island. Wondering how 
they would live, one of them suggested that, by doing 
each other's washing, they could all make a good living ! 
But we cannot all do each other's washing, or become 
proficient in the same kind of memory. Until we have 
learned WHAT CLASS OF MEMORY TO DE- 
VELOP, we can make little progress trying to develop 
any kind of memory. 






LESSON V 



THE ART OF CONCENTRATION 



Once, we read certain pseudo instructions relative to 
concentration of the mind. The author advised his 
pupils to "look at a spot" for fifteen minutes at a time. 
What value that spot could have in the life of the vic- 
tim of the system, was never made clear. 

You concentrate mentally on whatever excites your 
interest. Pick up a volume of Darwin or Ibsen, and 
unless you are brave, you will read what the type con- 
veys to your sense of sight, but likely you will be using 
your mind chiefly to think about other things. 

But if you are truly interested in Darwin or Ibsen, 
you will read with the same fervor that a hungry man 
devours food ! 

Too frequently, people will read "learned things," 
because they wish to appear learned — but if they read 
a thousand volumes on subjects in which they had no 
or little interest, they would not improve their minds. 
They might cause their minds to echo certain passages 
from that which they had read, but a phonograph could 
give a more faithful reproduction. 

Buy a fiction magazine and read a story — one that 

33 



34 MEMORY KEYS 

makes you forget that you are seated in a chair or loll- 
ing in a hammock. You seem to be about seven feet 
distant from the hero or heroine, and go through each 
crisis breathlessly. When the story is finished, you 
KNOW EVERYTHING ABOUT IT— because you 
were INTERESTED, and INTEREST BEGETS 
CONCENTRATION, and concentration cuts and 
paves your memory-streets! 

Pay more attention to your degree of INTEREST, 
and the concentration will take care of itself. Let us 
say that you are a salesman. You are fairly success- 
ful — but not one of the top-notchers. You have the 
ability to be high-class. Mentally, you are indolent. 
You may resent that estimate of yourself, but remem- 
ber that all laziness begins in the mind. 

There are many things that will, or should, increase 
your interest in your work — unless you are not fitted 
naturally to your calling. If you are not, get out of it. 
Never fracture your mental processes by straining them 
to do that which is naturally objectionable to them. 

Pride in your success will stimulate your interest. 
Chagrin at being a "tail-ender" will stimulate your 
interet, if you have any latent interest to stimulate. 

A boy in school excelled in history. He knew more 
about kings and queens than perhaps they knew about 
themselves. Dates were as simple as the spots on play- 
ing-cards. When asked HOW he mastered history so 
easily, he said, "I am as much interested in it as some 
people are in fiction. I read my history the way the 
rest of you read stories !" 

Really, there was nothing mysterious or complicated 
about that view of the study ! INTEREST CREATES 



THE ART OF CONCENTRATION 35 

CONCENTRATION. When you LOVE to study any 
subject, or LOVE your work, you naturally CONCEN- 
TRATE on it. Even though slighted work might 
pass muster, you think too much of your own happi- 
ness in work well done to fail in doing your best— and 
in TRYING TO IMPROVE ON YOUR BEST! 

You CONCENTRATE. You are INTERESTED. 
You have no thought-room for outside things. You 
do not hear sounds that might disturb others. Sousa's 
band might play lustily outside the shop and you would 
scarcely realize its presence! 

Many a minister's son has "gone wrong," because he 
was dragged to every service in his father's church. He 
was not interested. Religion was crammed down him 
much the same as castor-oil. He RESENTED being 
forced to accept it in such large and frequent doses. 
His resentment had the opposite effect from that which 
his parents hoped to instill within him. 

Permit a friend to entice you to a lecture on a subject 
that does not interest you, and how much of that lec- 
ture do you carry home with you? Your mind has been 
traveling independently, and at times you did not hear 
the voice of the lecturer — and when you did hear it, you 
thought it was very rasping and disagreeable. 

Love may be blind, but it has made fewer mistakes 
than those of enforced matrimony. A boy might shame 
his parents by refusing to be a lawyer and "hanging 
around" a machine shop — but in time he may become 
a great inventor. 

If you have any predisposition to a subject, and look 
into it and examine it, pretty soon you are INTER- 



36 MEMORY KEYS 

ESTED in it — and your interest increases as your study 
becomes deeper. 

There is a rule in the drama that is based on this basic 
subject of interest. In a scene, the other members of 
the cast center their vision and, apparently at least, 
their attention, on the person who has lines to speak. 
That helps focus the interest of the audience on that 
particular actor. And, in like degree, if we so arrange 
our studies and our work as to AVOID DISTRACT- 
ING THINGS, we shall have less trouble centering 
our attention on the work we are doing, or the study we 
are pursuing. 

If many business men would CONCENTRATE as 
studiously on their work as the safe-blower does on his, 
they would be more successful than they are. The evil- 
doer likes to be known as an "artist." His interest in 
his questionable pursuit makes him a master at it. 

You may resent the comparison of the burglar, but 
if you would find the same THRILL in your work that 
he finds in his, you would understand why there is so 
much highly developed, but woefully misdirected, tal- 
ent in the world. You would also understand why 
such relatively NEW avocations as "movie acting" 
and aviation, have produced so many marvels. The 
thrill is very great — and the greater the thrill, the 
keener the interest. That is why these folks CON- 
CENTRATE so studiously on their work. And as 
they concentrate, their MEMORIES carry complete 
records of every phase and feature of their callings. 
When a similar situation arises, the memory of the orig- 
inal situation is presented — its facts are at hand — and 
the judgment is formed accordingly. 



THE ART OF CONCENTRATION 37 

Find the THRILL — the joy — the happiness in that 
which you do and that which you study, and you will 
need no further lessons in concentration. As you lack 
interest, you lack concentration. If your thoughts are 
scattered, they are not bearing down on one fine point. 
If you could concentrate the full force of the weight and 
impact of each step you take, in a compass no greater 
than a needle-point, you would be surprised what power 
you really exerted ! 

Were there a means of determining the PHYSICAL 
FORCE of thinking, we should find likely that the 
numbskull uses as much mental energy as the highly 
developed specialist. You THINK anyway. That, you 
cannot help. But interest CONCENTRATES thought. 
You no longer SCATTER your observations. You 
draw them down to given metes and bounds, and then 
your thought-energy counts most. 

Love your work or your study, and you concentrate 
on it; and the kind of memory that you need most is 
at your service. 

But — that is not the entire story ! 



LESSON VI 



HOLD MEMORY REVIEWS 



Unless the merchant took periodical inventory, he 
would not know the extent and value of his stock of 
goods. He is buying, selling and exchanging continu- 
ously, and after a few months, he cannot tell just what 
he has on his shelves or in his warehouse. He may have 
more money in goods than he thought, and therefore 
has made money — even though his bank balance is 
lower than it was months ago. 

If memory is worth having — worth cultivating — it 
should be cultivated systematically. If you had a gar- 
den, you would have to pull the weeds occasionally, or 
they would grow up faster than the vegetables and 
choke the worth-while vegetation. 

If you do not use memory, the memory-streets become 
dirty. Their pavement is hidden beneath the dust of 
disuse. 

Remembering things is easier than most folk think — 
not only because of the interest and the attendant con- 
centration that have been explained, but because of the 
special interest a person may find in the process of 
remembering. There is a good deal more fun in exer- 

38 



HOLD MEMORY REVIEWS 39 

cising one's memory than there is in playing most 
games. It seems no more like work than the games. 
A man will complain about shoveling coal into his 
furnace, but he will walk ten miles after an elusive 
golf-ball, and call it pleasure! 

If we make memory-culture arduous, then it helps us 
little. If it is "showing ourselves a good time," it is 
helpful. 

Did you ever count the bills in your purse and the 
loose change in your pocket and say, "Now, I should 
have had two dollars more than I have; what did I do 
with it?" 

What happened after this disquieting discovery? 
YOU HELD A MEMORY REVIEW WITH YOUR- 
SELF. Is that not true? You traced your course dur- 
ing the day, and really, it was surprising to find how 
easy it is to FORGET what has happened during THIS 
VERY DAY ! Where could your mind be to forget— 
for the time— -that you had gone into a drug-store, 
waited ten minutes for attention, and bought two dol- 
lars' worth of goods ! Or, how could you forget that you 
went to the post-office, stood in line several minutes 
with your money-order application form all made out, 
to buy a two-dollar post-office order for a magazine 
subscription? 

When there is some special reason for RETRACING 
YOUR STEPS, you do it — and it is not so very diffi- 
cult, either. 

Suppose you did that very thing each evening? And 
suppose you held a weekly review, and a monthly 
review? Each time you send your THOUGHT travel- 



40 MEMORY KEYS 

ing over your memory-streets, you cut them deeper and 
put more gray paving material on them. 

You CLAIM to be good at memory, but get on a wit- 
ness-stand and let a lawyer ask you, "What did you do 
between ten in the morning and noon of May 6, 1905?" 
and you will begin to wonder if you were really alive on 
that day! It is a blank to you. So is the entire month 
of May, 1905— and maybe 1905 itself! 

The memory specialist will say, "Ah, ha! I shall show 
you how the association of ideas will come to your res- 
cue!'' Then he proceeds to give you a formula that is 
more difficult that the very act of living. He has read, 
somewhere, about the association of ideas, and it sounds 
very learned to him. 

Some years ago in England, several physicians made 
a special study of the insane — as we presume other phy- 
sicians have done in other countries. These doctors 
believed that if they could occupy the minds of their 
unfortunate patients, the particular phobia from which 
each suffered, would disappear. The man who insisted 
that he was the Duke of Wellington would begin to 
recognize himself as John Jones. The doctors started 
to make their patients take exercise, and after some 
months, they noticed that THOSE WHO WERE 
INTERESTED IN THE EXERCISE DEVELOPED 
THEIR MUSCLES, and became strong and healthy. 
Those who TOOK NO INTEREST in those exercises, 
and yet went through them, were AS UNDEVEL- 
OPED as they were at the start, and remained as mor- 
bid and unhealthy. 

If the MIND has so much to do with the development 
of muscles as that, why should it have less to do with 



HOLD MEMORY REVIEWS 41 

the development of memory? Further, if the mind can 
make possible the development of muscle to that extent, 
without knowing the technical names of the muscles, 
why shouldn't the same keen interest develop memory, 
without dragging in a labored discussion of "the asso- 
ciation of ideas," which is only part of our mental proc- 
ess the same as arriving at a decision? 

THE TROUBLE WITH EDUCATION IS THAT 
WE INSIST ON MAKING THE MIND AN 
UNFATHOMABLE MYSTERY! 

The association of ideas is as natural a mental process 
as any other aspect of THINKING. Ages before any 
philosopher gave names to the different types of 
thought, people had wonderful memories. They did 
not conjure up thoughts of concrete, granite, marble, 
coral-rock, bricks, mortar, masons, et al., in order to 
recall that a man's name was Stone! Indeed, the per- 
sons who had to blaze their own thought-trails did 
much better than many of us today who have the advan- 
tage of following many blazed trails ! 

It is remarkable that old persons, with plenty of time 
to think, will "dwell in the past" so much that they can 
recall incidents that many keen, active thinkers have 
forgotten. They do so by holding these frequent 
MEMORY REVIEWS. We who are active cannot 
dwell so much in the past — nor is it imperative that we 
attempt to remember all things we have witnessed or 
experienced. But if we REVIEW those things that 
profit us to remember, each time we recall them, they 
seem to build a shorter bridge across the stream of time, 
and the distant yesterdays with their vivid details, 
come nearer to us. 



42 MEMORY KEYS 

We know a man who, as a child, wondered if he 
would recall his early life after he had grown up. He 
started in to hold these little memory reviews, and in 
maturity, his memory reached back faithfully to baby- 
hood — to an age that seemed to be too early even for 
thought. His friends indulgently called him a liar for 
his claims, but he proved his contentions on more than 
one occasion by giving facts to older persons who knew 
the communities in which he had lived. 

What we do today is but the CUMULATIVE 
EFFECT OF OUR MEMORIES. Our skill, our 
knowledge, are but reflections of the MEMORY OF 
OUR EXPERIENCES— the things through which we 
have passed as well as our observation and studies. 

If we close today's book and never seek to reopen it, 
its print becomes blurred — it grows yellow and dim 
with age. If we neglect property, it falls into decay. 
If we do not oil machinery, it rusts and wears out rap- 
idly. If we do not USE memory, it becomes almost a 
blank. Until we have learned the importance of TAK- 
ING INVENTORIES OF OUR MINDS, we cannot 
lay claim to having good memories — and good memo- 
ries often are money-makers ! 



LESSON VII 



OCCUPYING OUR MENTAL ROOMS 



The chambers of our mind are going to be occupied 
somehow. They may be occupied by needless, useless, 
extravagant, vagrant thoughts, or useful thoughts. 

Many a young man who is worthless in any known 
avocation, can light matches in his teeth, make a coin 
walk across his ringers and do card tricks. He prides 
himself on his accomplishments — but no one cares to 
pay him for his exhibitions. His friends may call him 
"clever," and he is— like the dog that can speak and sit 
up and shake hands ! 

If we insist upon "remembering everything/' we have 
so much active memory of no especial value, we crowd 
out the kind of memory that will help us the most. 
Many a person can quote the well-known authors, and 
quotes them so studiously that he cannot write a letter 
expressing his own thoughts. He fills the pages with 
mummies of other men's thoughts. 

It is not necessary that we remember all things which 
we have "been through." Some of them we would bet- 
ter forget. Memory can become such an inflamed proc- 
ess, it is a disease rather than an accomplishment. You 

43 



44 MEMORY KEYS 

have witnessed these "detail memory" victims who 
would start to tell a story and embellish it with their 
memory pictures of details to such a degree that they 
forgot the story they started out to tell ! 

Some of these memory-sharks so alter the actuality 
of the experience they would recall, that no one would 
ever recognize it. They change their memories to suit 
themselves. They alibi their own parts in an incident. 
And in time, what they remember is NOT what hap- 
pened — nor is it much like the reality. To them, it is 
FACT! 

It is easier to remember the truth than it is to remem- 
ber a falsehood, but a lie — oft repeated — will cut as 
deep a memory-street as a fact ! 

Here are some utterly useless types of memory — not 
all by any means, but a few of the more flagrant 
classes : 

A person remembers the quibbling details of the 
small-talk of a conversation — with startling fidelity. 
If that person were asked to memorize a message of 
importance, he likely would fail. 

There are people who try to remember pain. But 
pain carries no memory. The fact that one has suffered 
is remembered, but that memory does not bring the 
same keen torture. Memory of pain and memory of 
"hard luck," are not the best kinds of memory to culti- 
vate. We can remember, with profit, whatever bravery 
we showed in extricating ourselves from the slough of 
bad times — and the processes we employed. If we 
dwell much upon our suffering, we fill the active gal- 
leries of our minds with harmful thoughts. Why do it? 

With biting clearness, we remember the slurs cast 



OCCUPYING OUR MENTAL ROOMS 45 

upon us by our enemies. Why clutter up our memory- 
streets and parks with such litter? Can we not use that 
same thought-energy to more constructive advantage 
than by employing it upon objects of our dislike? If 
those folk are our enemies, let us try to forget them, 
because if they do not merit our love, surely they do not 
merit the expenditure of our precious energy ! 

Why should any person seek to perpetuate NEED- 
LESS INFORMATION? When such a strenuous 
sales campaign was inaugurated for the sale of a certain 
popular encyclopedia, many folk thought that the farth- 
est reaches of knowledge would lie in the direction of 
learning everything in those twenty bulky volumes— 
but the specialist knows that if he were obliged to 
depend upon the information conveyed to him through 
the encyclopedia, he would NOT be a specialist! 

If one's father was French and he detested a Span- 
iard, is that any good reason why one should go through 
life hating Spaniards— particularly as the father's feel- 
ings were caused very likely by contact with one dis- 
agreeable Spaniard? 

ALL memory is no more to be desired or cultivated 
than an appetite for all food. Some foods disagree with 
one. Some memory is harmful to an individual. ANY 
memory is harmful if it takes up necessary and valu- 
able room in the mind. Memory that is exercised dili- 
gently, .will project itself into one's daily thoughts. If 
that memory is needless or harmful, it injures one's 
thoughts, one's work, one's progress. 

The person who longs to possess unbroken memory— 
to the smallest detail — may be seeking something far 
more harmful than he suspects. But if he searches for 



46 MEMORY KEYS 

and cultivates those memories that are constructive, he 
will move ahead much faster, because WE CANNOT 
LIVE THE PAST AGAIN. THAT IS GONE. 
OUR FUTURE SHOULD CONCERN US MOST, 
AND THE MEMORY THAT WILL HELP US 
IMPROVE THE OPPORTUNITIES OF THE 
FUTURE, IS THE ONLY HELPFUL MEMORY! 

There may be men who are superior in many lines. 
We have never met one. The great physician may be 
dull in other studies. What could be gained by being a 
specialist in law, chemistry, astronomy, botany, sur- 
gery, languages, art and a number of other things? 

It is not the best idea to claim to be a memory-shark, 
because "pride goeth before a fair' in memory as much 
as in any other direction. The specialist of thirty years 
of age may receive compensation of twenty thousand 
dollars a year, while the "Jack-of-ail-trades" receives 
three dollars a day, doing odd jobs ! 

There are many "Jacks-of-all-memories," who pride 
themselves on their "general knowledge," forgetting 
the adage that "a little learning is a dangerous thing." 
The half-informed person is far worse off in the race of 
life, than the person who specializes on one kind of 
knowledge, and masters it ! 

There is many a salesman who thinks that "he can 
sell anything," whereas his frequent jumps into this 
class of business and that, make him unfit for any kind 
of salesmanship. He sells the goods and the service of 
his house, and unless he KNOWS that which he sells, 
how can he sell it well? 

The ham actor says that he is a marvel in comedy, 
tragedy and any part, but he remains the same ham 



OCCUPYING OUR MENTAL ROOMS 47 

actor ! He is generally "at liberty !" He does a little of 
all kinds of acting, but none well. He has REMEM- 
BERED A LITTLE OF MANY THINGS HE 
NEVER MASTERED, and thereby takes up valuable 
brain-space that should be devoted to one specialty in 
his line. 

When memory helps us pick out the kernels of knowl- 
edge that will nourish us in our work, memory should 
be cultivated. When memory seeks to master a miscel- 
lany of non-essentials, it is harmful. Beware, then, of 
the person who says that "I never forget anything." 
A magpie may qualify as well as he ! 

MEMORY MUST BE CONSTRUCTIVE. IT 
MUST TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THE TRUTH 
THAT ACTIVE THOUGHT HAS ONLY SO 
MUCH SPACE FOR INFORMATION. Do not 
crowd the room you need to progress ! 



LESSON VIII 



FORGET YOUR MEMORY-ERRORS 



As we pass along Life's Highway, we form opinions 
that later prove to be erroneous. The child, riding 
along with its parents, sees the moon as every cross- 
street is passed. "My," observes the little one," how 
many moons are out tonight !" 

It is only a question of time when common observa- 
tion will prove to that child that it was mistaken. But 
there are times when errors creep into our minds and 
are not so easily dislodged. 

Col. Roosevelt told, in his autobiography, about some 
bauble in the family that he had regarded as very costly. 
He carried this idea into mature manhood, but one day 
it occurred to him that the special article he had treas- 
ured all those years, was not at all costly, or particu- 
larly useful ! 

At times, gossip points its bony finger at some person 
and says, "That person is evil — oh, so fearfully bad!" 
If we never correct this idea, we shall employ our mem- 
ories to work a great injustice against an honorable 
person. 

We might continue to cite instances to prove that 

48 



FORGET YOUR MEMORY-ERRORS 49 

thereare MISTAKES OF MEMORY, due to mistakes 
of understanding at the time that memory was formed. 
If these errors are never cleared away, those mistakes 
may become mental barnacles that impede our thought- 
progress. They may be rank injustices against others. 

There are errors of common heritage. Many persons 
believe that the sting of a scorpion or the bite of a taran- 
tula is always fatal. Medical men say that it is not! 

If we are not careful, we cherish wrong impressions. 
We persist in them as memories, until they have formed 
unhealthy growths in our minds. If memory-culture 
depended solely on being able to REACH OUR MEM- 
ORY RECORDS at any time, that would not be so 
difficult — but let us be certain that the things we remem- 
ber are CORRECT as well as HELPFUL. 

The woman who can talk about nothing but her oper- 
ations, is not very agreeable company. That is her 
memory-hobby and it is cultivated to a painfully accu- 
rate degree. The man who can remember only the 
injustices he has suffered, becomes an unpardonable 
bore. We all have our own troubles. We should try to 
forget most of those. 

But if we wish sincerely to cultivate our memories, 
then let us ANALYZE THAT WHICH WE REMEM- 
BER. If we find that a memory is either incorrect or 
useless, why employ it? Why carry a dead cat around 
with us because once it was a very beautiful tabby? 

Some persons stop growing up mentally very young 
in life. Some carry, for instance, the memory of youth 
— and the desire for youth becomes a mania. Others 
carry the memory of the time they were rich — whereas 
now they are poor — and the memory of their better 



50 MEMORY KEYS 

days prevents their progressing to the point where they 
can bring still better days ! 

WE MUST ANALYZE, We must not be afraid to 
say that we have forgotten or that we were wrong. If 
you refuse to readjust your mental equipment to fact, 
what is your mind manufacturing? It really is a manu- 
facturing plant, and its products are your SUCCESS 
and your HAPPINESS. If it fails to produce these 
results, it is not giving a good account of itself. 

Any system of memory-cultivation that fails to weed 
out error, is a very pernicious system. It is dangerous. 

A mother dies. Her little one grieves. But as time 
passes and new experiences come into that budding life, 
memory of the mother begins to fade. Should that 
memory be kept alive through frequent reference to her 
death, or through referring frequently to her love, her 
beauty of character, her goodness and kindness? 

Too often we seek to keep alive that which were bet- 
ter buried, and we bury the memory that we would 
better keep alive! 

It is true that some people "live and learn," but too 
many just live. It is a fact that EDUCATION is the 
desire of the majority of persons, but that too many by 
far fill their minds with useless, hindering memories — 
and cherish errors of memories to their own lasting, or 
at least prolonged, detriment. 

If all we have in life is the desire to "show our smart- 
ness," then we are remembering things that do us no 
good. There are men and women who fill their minds 
with catch-problems, conundrums, the spelling of unus- 
ual words, and like tricks that will "catch" most per- 
sons. And those who persist in these needless, silly 



FORGET YOUR MEMORY-ERRORS 51 

memories feel that they are very learned because they 
have "stumped" somebody. If such persons would 
make an effort to remember more of the better and 
more useful things in life, they would no longer worry 
about their being regarded as paragons of wisdom. 

Whenever you touch upon the subject of memory, 
you are thinking about something most vitally YOU. 
And until you realize that you are not the finished pupil, 
but that you are still climbing the hill of learning, you 
will not form a proper estimate of memory and its 
value — nor will you seek to remember those things that 
are concerned most with your progress. If you remem- 
ber for the sheer glory of remembering, then you will 
remember the errors with the facts — the bad with the 
good. 

Certain classes of memory imbue you with FEAR — 
with DOUBT— with MISGIVINGS. Such memory 
anchors you to the past, and that is always to be 
avoided, because your progress MUST BE FOR- 
WARD. 

Certain memories, such as injustices and terror, may 
so incapacitate a person as to make him a physical and 
moral coward. That is memory just as truly as remem- 
bering the multiplication tables— but which is the more 
helpful? 

A writer aspires to be literary, and fills up his mind 
with a vocabulary that is over the heads of ninety-five 
per cent, of our population. If he writes "past" his read- 
ers, of what value is his writing? Perhaps he never 
succeeds until he has FORGOTTEN thousands of 
those words! The "big words" exist just the same. 
They are in the dictionary. He learned them. But — do 



52 MEMORY KEYS 

these facts justify that writer in persisting in using a 
vehicle of thought that means nothing to most persons? 

We find thousands of men who learned trades in the 
old way, and who refuse to learn the newer and better 
ways. What have they gained? Their MEMORY 
of the old methods has proved barriers to them. They 
never regarded those old methods as crude. They have 
never compared their own progress with the progress 
of other workmen. They have never ANALYZED 
that which they persisted in remembering. Is memory 
an asset or a liability under these conditions? YOU 
know the answer! 

If you wish to cultivate your memory, then really 
CULTIVATE it. Pull up the weeds of useless things 
and erroneous things. Just because you can remember 
something valueless, does not give it value. A young 
man might be a clever pool player, but the poorest clerk 
in the office. He might remember all about his dex- 
terity with the cue, and very little of the facts of his 
bread- winning labors! 



LESSON IX 



MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE 



In this School of Life, we are passing through the 
refining processes of EXPERIENCE. And experience 
means not only the things we pass through, such as our 
goings and comings and our adventures, but it embraces 
as well, our studies and our thoughts. Some of the 
most important experiences we have, are thought-ex- 
periences or study-experiences. 

But there is also a PRACTICAL SIDE to experi- 
ence. Until we have DONE a thing, we cannot say 
that we know it. 

There is a binding link between THINKING and 
DOING. When we have the proper conception of any 
subject, that proves that our ideas conform with the 
actual work that would be involved in putting that 
knowledge into operation. 

In anything pertaining to life, we may find illumi- 
nating suggestions. The circus presents its own les- 
sons. To illustrate the point upon which our discussion 
now pauses, we shall take the occupation of the acro- 
bats. Some are Europeans — some Americans — some 
Africans — some Australians — others Asiatics. 

53 



54 MEMORY KEYS 

It is said that, before a Japanese acrobat attempts to 
perform any new feat of tumbling, he sits quietly and 
MEDITATES on how to do that particular acrobatic 
trick. He uses his MEMORY of acrobatics, and "fig- 
ures out" just what muscles will be brought into play — 
when he is to make a particular turn in the air — what 
the problems of equilibrium will be. 

He does not attempt to TRY the act until he has 
"thought it out." When he is quite certain that he has 
a proper conception of what is to be done, and HOW it 
will be done, he steps out on the mat and — DOES it ! 

What did he do but CALL UPON HIS MEMORY, 
and ANALYZE the EXPERIENCE-KNOWLEDGE 
that his memory called up? Could many progressive 
men and women do as well, there would be more effic- 
iency, less error and a smaller amount of vain boasting ! 

Experience, no matter what its nature may be, would 
be of small service to us unless we USED it. And to 
use experience, calls for the exercise of Memory ! 

Witness this difference between the progress of two 
pupils, after they have graduated from school: One of 
them remembers the PRACTICAL SIDE of his teach- 
ings, and seeks to make the best use of that which he 
has learned. If he has formed wrong conceptions in the 
past, he corrects his ideas as he passes through the 
active work he has selected. He realizes that he may 
have studied many subjects just to learn HOW TO 
THINK— and that he has studied PRINCIPLES that 
lend themselves to practical work, without really teach- 
ing all there is to know about that work. He prog- 
resses. Gradually, he gets away from his text-book 
ideas— but saves from his SCHOOL MEMORY that 



MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE 55 

which will help him move forward. And that young 
man has really benefitted most by his education. 

The other young man is so positive that his learning 
has been complete, he seeks at all times to MAKE HIS 
WORK CONFORM WITH HIS THEORIES. He is 
rebuked, but persists in believing that what he knows 
is "the real truth," and that there is some grave error 
on the part of those who seek to correct him ! 

Never attempt to separate experience from memory S 

Apply this same principle to any phase of life. As we 
work and study, as we come into contact with different 
people and with new features in our own work, we learn 
things which we did not suspect existed. And we begin 
to see, if we study diligently, that we were nearly right 
in some of our former views— correct in others- — and 
entirely at error in others. But if we insist that WE 
MUST REMEMBER ALL THINGS through which 
we have passed, what a drag that may be upon our 
progress. Here are two men. They had equal starts in 
life. One is a big success and the other is a failure. 
The big man goes right through theories to FACT. 
He does not dwell on the false notions he had in the 
beginning. He sets aside all that is valueless. The fail- 
ure remembers the theories— his hobbies — the little 
hurts to his pride — the needless and harmful things ! 

EXPERIENCE in time will show us where we were 
wrong — and even though our memory may teem with 
instances that incline us to cling to our former mistakes, 
of what value is that memory ? Certainly, it is likely to 
be very harmful. 

The cultivation of memory that disregards the value 
of experience, both past and present, and that does not 






55 MEMORY KEYS 

take into consideration the FUTURE DEMANDS OF 
PROGRESS, is a harmful system. There may be great 
pride in "remembering all things," but if that tenacity 
of memory only hinders our progress, where can we 
find any satisfaction in it? 

Many a child grows up to be much more learned and 
useful than his father, but the father longs for the days 
that were — with their misery and their mistakes. The 
father becomes a slave to useless memory. The boy sets 
his face toward greater achievements, and blots out 
from his thoughts those memories that bind him. 

What does your memory hold that will HELP YOU 
in solving today's problems? What does your memory 
reveal that will help you step ahead tomorrow? Per- 
haps the best thing in your memory is the knowledge 
that you have learned to do things better through 
knowing how and why you erred in the past. Perhaps 
the most helpful part of your memory is that which 
brings to your aid the knowledge that you had courage 
to overcome obstacles when you were not so well quali- 
fied to cope with them as you are today. 

If the pianist did not have a PROGRESSIVE MEM- 
ORY, then he would never become more efficient. His 
crude efforts in childhood were but STEPS that carried 
him to higher levels in his profession. Too many peo- 
ple place too much importance on their memory of ear- 
lier efforts, and regard themselves as very brave and 
wonderful. They cling to these memories of commend- 
able efforts they once put forth, and expect to be praised 
for what they did years ago. 

Thus we see that memory is a subject both broad and 
deep, and that we cannot build a temple to memory, 



MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE 57 

and forget all else. We cannot make memory a para- 
mount thing. Until we have made it SERVE OUR 
PROGRESS, it is more of a handicap than a help. 

How much better is the practical side of the memory 
subject than an over-learned effort to discuss pro- 
foundly about subconsciousness and weighty meta- 
physics. We LIVE our lives in a practical way, and 
surely any philosophy affecting our lives should be 
equally practical, and less "booky." 

If we make ourselves believe that we are more pro- 
found than our work proves us to be, what have we 
gained? If memory becomes a hobby with us, and we 
worship it for its own unadorned sake, then memory 
is of small value. Only as it HELPS US MOVE 
AHEAD, is memory of any value at all! 



LESSON X 



THE MILESTONES OF MEMORY 



In the lives of each and all of us, there must be certain 
MILESTONES OF MEMORY. They represent those 
periods in our lives when we took the most important 
STEPS OF PROGRESS. 

The day we mastered some evil habit, is a memory- 
milestone. The day we found courage sufficient to 
emerge from a state of serfdom, we created another 
milestone. The time we set about to LEARN some- 
thing, and never wavered from that course, we were 
placing another milestone along our Memory High- 
way! 

History is nothing but a composite memory preserved 
in records. Does history persist through telling about 
all the little inconsequentialities of kings, queens and 
courtiers, or by giving us the story of the UPWARD 
STRUGGLE OF MANKIND? 

There are various students of history. Some are con- 
cerned with the learning of ancient peoples — others 
with their laws and so on. History, therefore, reveals 
many important truths about the progress of humanity. 
But the great milestones of progress stand out clearer 

58 



THE MILESTONES OF MEMORY 59 

than all events. There were conditions and move- 
ments upon which the forward swing of mankind 
depended. When these conditions were NOW — when 
they were being lived — they may have seemed to be of 
no greater importance than many other events of those 
days. But the other events have been lost sight of, 
in considering the greater epoch-making movements. 

Today, there may be something in your experience 
that will have much to do with your progress. It may 
seem of small importance right now. Days, weeks, 
months or years may pass before the real value of that 
circumstance may impress itself upon you. And there 
are decisions that you make, that will become mile- 
stones in your future. The nearer you are to any event, 
the less you comprehend its importance. And the thing 
that today you think you must remember always, may 
fade away among the inconsequential as time passes. 
You are not always in position to make your memory- 
selections right now. You need the PERSPECTIVE 
of the passing years, perhaps, to form your proper esti- 
mates. Maybe you need more ripe experience before 
you can select those circumstances and those decisions 
in your life that were helping shape your future. 

If you were to accept a rule that would tell you to 
remember everything that happened to you today, that 
rule might prove cumbersome, and even injurious, were 
you to follow it. That would be equivalent to saying 
that ALL that you have experienced is vitally impor- 
tant ! It is like saying that the rapid, willy-nilly search- 
ings of your thought, or the sense-observations that 
press upon you from all sides, should be remembered. 
You realize that the memory of these endless details, of 



60 MEMORY KEYS 

itself, would prevent your having new experiences. If 
you give so much time to memory that you lack obser- 
vation of what is going on around and about you NOW, 
you will extract but little value from your present 
experiences. 

You are living NOW, and for the FUTURE, and 
any memory exercise that would rob you of time and 
energy, is certainly more of a hindrance than a help. 
Let the memory-sharks brag of their intricately error- 
proof memories — but remember that by their very act 
of making an embalming room of their minds, they are 
shutting out many of the live, vital thoughts and obser- 
vations that they need right now! 

The subject of memory can as easily become a matter 
of insanity as anything else. With some folk, it is a 
mania. So loud are their boastings, that when they are 
caught wanting, they feel criminally inclined. They 
have taken a false stand, and false stands have to be 
deserted some time or other — and the later this deser- 
tion occurs, the more embarrassing it is ! 

Memory is very valuable, but not all memory. Recall- 
ing what had taken place, is a worthy mental attain- 
ment, but it is not all there is to life. If everybody was 
supposed to remember everything, reference books and 
books of account would be of no value. If we had such 
magnificent memories that, once we read a thing, we 
would have it at our tongue-ends always, we should 
soon find ourselves in a position of parrots. We would 
be REPEATING to such an exaggerated degree that 
we would have neither time nor energy to move 
forward. 

There are MILESTONES OF MEMORY that will 



THE MILESTONES OF MEMORY 61 

aid us — and that will give us the real value in memory. 
Let us find them — recognize them as we can — and learn 
the lessons they teach us. 



We offer no resume to this treatise. If we were to 
finish our discussion of memory with a tabulation, then 
you would attempt to remember the tabulation, and pay 
no attention to the REASONS WHY that have accom- 
plished each statement. 

The proper exercise of memory is something to be 
encouraged. It is a fine possession. There is a function 
of memory that is necessary in our progress, and in our 
character-building as well. Let us find these features 
of memory, and cultivate these features and leave with 
the remnants in the rag-bag and on the ash-heap, the 
useless, futile memories that we shall never use to good 
account so long as we endure. 

Memory, properly cultivated, will assist us in sharp- 
ening our observation, in overcoming our mistakes, and 
in balancing our judgment. But to say that memory is 
greater than all our other faculties, is equivalent to 
saying that one part of a machine is more important 
than the other parts. The mind serves best when its 
faculties CO-ORDINATE! The well-balanced mortal 
is more progressive and infinitely happier than the one- 
sided person, whose development runs in one direction, 
and with that tendency of no particular use. 

Cultivating memory is much like raising flowers. By 
always selecting the healthiest and best seeds, and 
planting them in the best soil, a refinement will be 
attained that would be impossible in any other way. 



62 MEMORY KEYS 

Without memory, there could be no learning — no life. 
But to think too seriously about memory is as bad as 
thinking too much about one's heart. Were a person to 
concentrate his attention for long periods on the beat- 
ing of his heart, he might lose his reason. If a person 
concentrates too much upon memory-culture, he gets 
the wrong impression of the value of memory, and 
receives the least good out of his efforts to remember. 

When the cultivation of memory is pursued along 
rational lines, that cultivation proceeds WITHOUT 
EFFORT. It becomes as much a part of the process of 
thinking as recognizing the words we see in a newspa- 
per. When memory is cultivated properly, a person 
observes and thinks in a manner that makes that mem- 
ory RETENTIVE. The mind that makes the best use 
of itself, is not under a strain — and the cultivation of 
memory that gives one the right kind of active memory, 
is not burdensome. It is natural, because every func- 
tion of life, operating properly, is natural — and that 
which is natural, is without burdensome effort ! 






I 




